Sandcastle World Record Attempt

An attempt to break
the Guinness World Record for the most sandcastles built in
one hour will take place on Wellington’s Lyall Bay beach
this Sunday, November 25.

Hundreds of people are
expected to turn up for the challenge which is raising money
for The Neonatal Trust.

A very special international
guest, in town for The Hobbit premiere, is expected to host
the event, which has been organised by Adventure
Wellington.

Sir Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop have
designed and created 100 special buckets which will be
passed around on the day. Each sand castle has to be 2 ft
tall with a 2 ft wide base, and have four turrets; they will
be checked by a Guinness World Record adjudicator.

There are five Neonatal Trusts in New Zealand, based in
Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. They
support parents of premature babies flown from around the
country to the five hospital neonatal intensive care units
(NICU’s).

“The incidence of premature birth is
growing all the time. In New Zealand around 6,000 babies a
year have to go to a neonatal unit. The Trust’s role is to
support the families through this time as they can end up
spending weeks or even months away from home as their baby
grows,” says Neonatal Trust CEO, Michael Meads.

“Our NICU’s are world class; in particular
Wellington’s unit which treats babies born as early as 23
weeks from around the country.”

The current world
record stands at 683 sandcastles set two months ago in
Britain.

The aim this Sunday in Wellington is to build
in excess of 1,000 official
sandcastles.

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